Improvement in breech-loading ordnance



Patented Dec 24, 1861.

C. ALGER. Breech-Imadmg Ordnance.

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Inventor Huang;

BEST AVAlLABLE COPY UNITED, STATES CHARLES Menu, on

. IMPROVEMENT IN BREEC'H- PAT NT OFFICE.

' HUDSON, NFHV YORK.

LOADING ORDNANCE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 83,976, dated Dc. nbcr 2i, lSGl.

To all whom it may concern.- Be itknown that I, CHARLES ALG ER, of Hudson, in the county of Columbia and State of NewYork, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Breech-Loading Ordnance and Fire-Arms; and Ido hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figurel is atop view of a cannon constructed according to my invent-ion, showing the breech in section; and Fig. 2, a central longitudinal vertical section of the same.

Similar letters of reference .indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

This invention consists in abreech composed of a spherical piece of metal inserted into a hemispherical seat provided in the gun in rear of its bore, and confined therein by means of a hollow screw, which is screwed into the rear of the gun behind it, said screw having its front end countersunk to fit and form the rear seat for the said sphericatpiece, and the said spherical piece having an opening centrally through it of snfiicient size, and the internal caliber of the hollow screw being suffv cient to permit the projectile and the cartridge to be inserted through thcni into the chamber of the gun, and the said spherical piece being furnished with suit-able means of turning it to bring its opening transverse to the bore, and thereby make it close the rear of the gun, and to bring it opposite the bore for loading at the breech.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is the barrel or body of the gun, bored throughout of the requisite caliber, andthen eouuterborcd from the rear of a much larger caliber, and having its couuterborefinished in front of hemispherical form, as shown at a a, to receive and form a seat for he spherical breech-piece B, which. should be of steel or other hard metal, and which is inserted from the rear. In rear of the seat a a -a female screw-thread, b b is cut in the counterbore for the reee tion 0 the hollow screw 0, in the front on of which is countersunk a seat, 1; c, fitting the spherical breech-piece. The hollow screw is furnished at its rear end with a flange, d, for the attachment of handles ff,

| levers, or other means of turning'the said screw in the female screw-thread b b. The seat 0 0 may be faced with other metal than that of which the hollow screw isfor1ned -for inof wrought-iron; or the entire hollow screw may be made of steel.

screwed close up to the breech-piece, the seats ity, in which the breech-piece is confined.

D is a spindle inserted through a bearing bored transversely through one side of the body or barrel A, and entering the breechpicce radially to its center; and r is a journal provided at the opposite side ofthe breechpiece to enter a bearing provided on the opposite side of the'gun, said spindle and journal having their axes in line withcach other, and their bearings being in line with each other and opposite the center of the spherical cavity before mentioned. The inner end of holecut in thejspherical breech-piece, to enable the said spindle, by the application of a lever, c, or wheelto its outer end, to turn the "breech-piece to bring its central opening, g, in line with the bore h of the gun for loading at the breech, and to bring the transverse position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, to close the chamber or rear of the bore h after the insertion of the projectile and cartridge therein. The bearings for the spindle D should be slightly widened in the direction of the length of the gun, to enable the breechpiece to be set up tight against the seat a a of the hollow screw. The opening 9 through the breech-piece B and the borei of the hollow screw should be somewhat larger than the bore h, in order to enable the projectile and cartridge to passensily through them. The hollow screw 0, when once adj usted to the breechpleee, needs never to be disturbed, except to be screwed up to compensate for wear of the breech-piece or seats, or to botakeri out to permit the removal of the breech-piece for any purpose. The vent of the gun may pass through the spherical breech-piece or through the portion of the gun in front of it.

In order to prevent any escape of gas between the seat a a and the breech-piece, and the consequent corrosion of their surfaees,'I intend to insert in the bore 7:, after the can tridge, a ring or disk of sole-leather of a cirstance, of steel, the hollow screw being made \Vhen the screw is.

c c and a a combine to form a sphericalcavv the'spindle is made with a square to fit a square the said opening to BEST AVAILABLE COPY efimfereneeifully large or slightly larger driven out through the muzzle by the next than the rear portion of the said bore, predischarge, and so made to swab the gun.

vionsly soaking the said ring or disk in grease What I claim as my invention, and desire to or water. When the explosion of the charge seenreby Letters Patent, istakes place, this ring or disk is driven back The spherical breech-piece B, having a een-.

'againstthebreeeh-pieceand slightlyexpanded tral opening, and the hollow-screw 0, ap-

in a radial or circumferential direction, so as plied in combination witheach other and with to cover-the joint between the bore h and the the barrel or body A of the gun, snbstantially breech-piece, and to have expressed from it as herein described.

some of the grease or water,which, if the joint is not, perfectly close, enters and seals it. This I CHAS ALGER' ring or disk remains in the gun after the fir- Witnesses: ing and after the opening of the breech, and ABRAHAM S. Prim,

is pushed forward by the next projectile and I S. SEYMOUR. 

